Union's Fate in Hands of 'Young Napoleon'

Around 4 a.m. on Nov. 2, 1861, a party of officers and the newly appointed general in chief of the Union armies rode through the rain-slicked streets of Washington toward Union Station. Their mission: To see off the nationâ??s longest-serving general, who was boarding a train for New York and retirement. For over half a century, Winfield Scott had fought for the United States, commanding troops during the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Black Hawk War, the Second Seminole War and the current War of Rebellion.